Encomium
Pastor Chris Okotie is so many things rolled into one. Undoubtedly, he has a likeable aura with the mien of a dove. He has the gift of arresting his audience and sustaining the flow of his eloquence. These traits serve him well and has become added assets to his calling. He’s a household name, somebody that evokes different images, both positive and negative in almost equal measures. He runs one of the wealthiest ministries in Nigeria. He is worth well over N10 billion in cash and kind.
Rev. Chris Okotie, Senior Pastor of the Household of God Church is one name that can inspire and at the same time ruffle feathers. It’s all part of his colourful life. As an undergraduate at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, he sold buttons and colourful mufflers in the coal city market of Ogbete as a survival strategy. He also claimed to have traded in Hausa special tea. That perhaps was one of the reasons he was appointed patron of late Mallam Aminu Kano International Foundation. His involvement in pop music with a debut album entitled, I Need Someone, made him a popular personality. That fame came with wealth. The record label still pays him an annual royalty of N10 million.
Okotie, a pop singer who turned preacher after studying at a Bible College, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, founded the Household of God Church in his house in 1987. With a ballooning congregation, he moved into a warehouse he bought for N40 million and converted it into an alluring building mirroring his taste. With its marble front walls, reflecting glass windows and well-tended decorative plants, it is regarded as one of Nigeria’s most beautiful church buildings. Though not of spectacular size, if offers soothing ambience for worshippers.
The auditorium is air-conditioned and well-decorated. Okotie’s office on the upper deck of the building has covered walls, a guitar and giant portrait of the legendary world heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammed Ali. His congregation largely consists of young company executives and businessmen, who keyed into his vision and supported him with all their means. The headquarters is worth N1billlion now.
Gradually, Okotie bought all the other warehouses on the street, a total of 20 acres among other things, a 1,500 car park. He also occupied another stretch of land just by Clay Bus Stop along the same Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, Lagos. Okotie and his Household members, according to information, had been on the acquisition spree in the area for more than 30 years now. He is said to have gradually but steadily forced every other company including a bank to relocate from that vicinity.
His landed property in that area is worth about N5 billion. His wealth also reflects in his style. He is a chic dresser, a lover of exotic automobiles. He has a black Mercedes Benz equipped with two small television screens, Hummer jeeps, Range Rover, Rolls Royce and BMW. His automobiles are worth about N100 million. He also has a long convoy and security aides who travel with him.
The former pop star has an impressive dog kernel, featuring various breeds.
At the end of every year, he holds The Karis Award. The award, which carries cash prize of N500,000, is given to aged persons, who have distinguished themselves in public life. The ceremony also attracts top politicians. The Foundation spends about N10 million annually.
He is currently putting up a 8-storey building in Oregun, Lagos, which would be the ministry’s school. The school when completed would be for members’ children. It is expected to parade a state-of-the-art equipment that would make learning comfortable for the children.
Aside that, due to his amiable character, he has viable members and partners who support his ministerial and political ambition and annually he nets an average of N3 billion from offering, tithe and donations across the globe and his book, Apocalypses.
Okotie is also a politician. He made his intention known in 1999 when he ran for the presidency on the platform of the National Democratic Party (NDP). But he lost. Later, he formed his own party known as Fresh Party. The party’s secretariat is along Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, a building owned by the trendy clergy. He has allegedly spent about N500 million on three presidential bids consecutively. A bulk of the money comes from friends and members who believe in him. Even his associates in the diaspora send him grants.
The lawyer turned clergy was married to delectable Stephanie (formerly Ms. Henshaw) before it crashed due to irreconcilable differences.
– FEMI OYEWALE
